Today (March 2, 2018) is the day that the NEA (National Education Association) has designated as Read-Across-America day. (Also Dr Seuss’s birthday.) A celebration of READING. A celebration that I vehemently, and wholeheartedly join in! I’ve reprinted their “Declaration of Reading Independence.” Check it out!
Declaration of Reading Independence
(More about NEA Read Across America — Click HERE)
We hold this truth to be self-evident that all children have
the right to read. If we don’t secure this right, too many of
our children are likely to lead lives of quiet, or not so quiet,
despair.
To secure this right, every adult has a role to play. As people
who teach America’s children, we will craft our lessons
carefully. As parents, we will show our children a quieter,
more meaningful way. As members of the American family,
we will care for other people’s children as our own.
On this day of fireworks and fun, we pause to dream
together. We dream of a day when all children know their
ABCs before they come to school. We dream of a day when
all third graders are reading to learn rather than learning to
read. We dream of a day when every American teenager
knows the joy of being swept away by the powerful prose of
a good book.
And so, we the people who teach America’s children do
solemnly swear that we will not rest until our children are the
best readers in the world. As a first step toward this goal, we
hereby commit to celebrate reading March 2nd, the
birthday of Dr. Seuss, the man whose poetry and play has
led so many children to reading independence.
–By Anita Merina
You can celebrate reading by checking out the first title in the
Norma Jean Lutz Classic Collection: